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Wednesday, October 31, 2012

This is a
bitter, powerful, yet beautiful novel about slavery in the South of America
around the end of Civil War, or in the Reconstruction era. Beloved portrayed a
devotional love of a mother towards her children which—when the worst,
unthinkable terrifying situation was approaching—lead her to kill her daughter.
Wait, do you mean she really killed her
own daughter? How can you call that love? What kind of love is that—killing
your own child? I know, before getting into the whole story, you will call
it insanity, but wait until you finish it, you will understand why I could not condemn
Sethe for committing such a cruel thing to her beloved daughter—whom she later
did name Beloved.

Sethe had
been through a lot of hard times during her slavery. Throughout the novel
Morrison took us to see how white people had ill treated their slaves. Not only
they tortured their slaves and took away their freedom, Beloved distinctly
pictured how they dehumanized the slaves; so much that the slaves were even
scared to love; that their definition of freedom was as simple as to be able to
love and to have desires.

“To get to a
place where you could love anything you chose—not to need permission for desire—well,
now, that was freedom.”

The situation of Baby Suggs, when she was freed by her son, is more than
sufficient to reflect what the slaves lost their entire lives. Baby Suggs and
few of other characters in this book was fortunate to at last had freedom. But
what about them who had lived their entire lives as slaves? And once they were
free at last, how would they leave the dark past behind and take steps to the
future?

And what
Sethe must have endured here was so great—and I won’t write it down here
explicitly, it was something you need to feel yourself—that she was determined
to not let her children through the same path, ever. Morrison takes us to judge
Sethe’s choice through other central characters—but mostly through Beloved, the
victim.

Beloved is
not an easy reading. Morrison takes us back and forth almost without any particular
notice; through each character’s memory and point of view, the whole story is
slowly and painfully revealed. It’s a bit strange and confusing at first, but
you will get more familiar after few chapters.

I have read
somewhere on the internet that Morrison based the story on a true account of a
slave mother killing her children rather than having them be returned to
slavery under the Fugitive Slave Act, so that they wouldn’t suffer being killed
in another way. I don’t know whether it’s accurate or not, but one thing is
sure: there is no greater thing in the universe, than love. Sethe killed her
daughter not because she didn’t love her, but because she had never felt any kind
of love most of her own life; and now—when she was finally able to love after
so much sufferings—she would never give anybody a chance to take her children
and let them suffer as she had.

Ah….I have
tried so hard to picture my feeling through this review, but I guess I can
never tell you how powerful this book had affected me and made me re-shape my
definition of love. I will only close this review with an emotional dialog that
will reflect the desperation and powerlessness of the slaves….

“Tell me
something, Stamp,” Paul D’s eyes were rheumy. “Tell me
this one thing. How much is a nigger supposed to take? Tell me. How much?”“All he can,
said Stamp Paid. “All he can.”“Why? Why? Why?
Why? WHY?”

:(

Five stars
for Beloved. And special thanks to Nishita, whose review made me want to read this book, and to Joon Ann and Listra who were reading this book with me...

-----

Toni
Morrison is an American novelist, editor, and professor. Her novels are known
for their epic themes, vivid dialogue, and richly detailed characters. Among
her best known novels are The Bluest Eye, Sula, Song of Solomon and Beloved
(won Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1988).

Born as
Chloe Adelia Wofford in February 18, 1931 from a work class family, Morrison
grew up as a fervent reader; Austen and Tolstoy were among her reading list. She
married a Harold Morrison in 1958, but divorced in 1964. She wrote a short
story about a girl who longed to have blue eyes, and the story later on developed
into her first novel: The Bluest Eye (1970), which she wrote while raising two
children and teaching at Howard University.

Beloved
(1987) was her fourth novel and brought her to success. Not only Pulitzer, it
also won American Book Award. In May 2006 The New York Times Book Review named
Beloved the best American novel published in the previous twenty-five years. In
1993 Morrison was awarded the Nobel
Prize in Literature. Her citation reads: Toni Morrison, "who in novels
characterized by visionary force and poetic import, gives life to an essential
aspect of American reality." She is currently the last American to have
been awarded the honor. In addition to her novels, Morrison has also co-written
books for children with her younger son, Slade Morrison. Toni Morrison is
currently a member of the editorial board of The Nation magazine.

Dimmesdale
and Hester met each other in the forest; Hester told him that Chillingworth was
his husband who wanted to take avenge, and encouraged him to leave the past and
sought for new life elsewhere. Dimmesdale did not have the courage to make it
alone, and asked Hester for help, which Hester agreed.

Chapter XVIII – A Flood of Sunshine

Right after
their plan of leaving together was settled, Hester put off her scarlet letter
which made her beauty shone again at once; and both she and Dimmesdale felt
free and delighted, just as the sun suddenly brightly shone. Dimmesdale was
afraid Pearl would not love him, but Hester insisted that she would.

“All at once, as with a sudden smile of heaven, forth burst the sunshine, pouring a very flood into the obscure forest, gladdening each green leaf, transmitting the yellow fallen ones to gold, and gleaming adown the gray trunks of the solemn trees.” (p. 173)

When Pearl
returned to the scene from playing with animals and flowers on the other side of the brook, she refused to come to her
mother, whom she was not familiar without her scarlet letter; and only after
Hester put it back—and her shine of beauty vanished—Pearl came to her. However
Pearl refused Dimmesdale’s affectionate kiss on her brow, and washed it at the
brook.

Side note:

Hester felt estranged from Pearl when she put off the scarlet letter. Was it because Pearl born from the sin (thus symbolized by the scarlet letter), and when she denied it, she lost her bond with Pearl? Dimmesdale felt it too: “I have a strange fancy, that this brook is the boundary between two worlds, and that thou canst never meet thy Pearl again…” (p. 178)

Out from the
forest, Mr. Dimmesdale saw things around him differently; he had wicked
thoughts in him now that were eager to burst out, and wondered where it came
from or why it happened. He dismissed Chillingworth’s medical service, and
casually hinted that he might left the city, then ended the night by re-writing
his sermon for the next day’s Election—in his newly awaken passion.

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

If I was one
of Rev. Arthur Dimmesdale’s parishioner in The Scarlet Letter, this is what I
would write him….

Dear Rev.
Dimmesdale,

I am your
humblest parishioner, writing from my humblest heart, as I happened to know the
deepest secret you have kept in your heart for the last seven years. I know
that what you have done was a sin, no one would disagree that, but I also
remember from your sermons, many times you have emphasized that our God is a
Merciful God. Thus, when people fall in sin, and they really regret it and ask
for repentance, you told us yourself, that God would forgive them. So, why
don’t you just do that, instead of torturing your own soul with the realization
that people see you as a holy person while you are far from it?

Dear Mr.
Dimmesdale, no mankind is free from sin, Jesus was the only Man who have never
committed sin. You might not know, but your colleagues are definitely sinners
too, including your senior Rev. Wilson. Even St. Peter and St. Paul had also
fell in sin in the past, and what Paul had done was as great as—if not greater
than—adultery; he murdered a large numbers of Jesus’ followers! But look at what
happened to him afterwards, God forgave him, and gave him a bigger task to gain
much more souls to be baptist.

If I, your
humblest parishioner, may share my humblest opinion of what you should do
next—and this I collected from your sermons too, mind you—I think you must stop
blaming yourself, it won’t bring you anywhere. You have committed a sin. Ask
repentance from God. Leave the past behind. Remember what God had put you in
your position for. Finish your job. Move from the parish if you want, but for
God’s sake, build your new life and be useful for Him!

But, once
again, I’m just a humble parishioner. I did not have the right to make decision
for you, dear Mr. Dimmesdale. What I do know is that you should leave the
parish, leave Hester Prynne and little Pearl, and especially that wicked Mr.
Chillingworth. Ask God for a new spirit to build your new life. I can only pray
for the best of you and to God’s plan for you.

Hi guys…how
are you all doing with Gone With The Wind so far? Just want to remind you that
we are approaching the end of our read along. As I have mentioned before, we
would post ourreviews simultaneously on Margaret Mitchell’s birthday on
November 8th, 2012. The review page will be opened on that day at
7:30 am (GMT+7). You can add your review post URL in the linky. And….we will
have another giveaway hosted by Bzee! Please check out Bzee’s giveaway, because
your review posts will automatically be entered to that giveaway.

In the
meantime I’d like to remind you too, that my giveaway for update posts
is still on. Please add your posts in Update Posts page by latest November 8th,
2012 at 7:00 am (GMT+7), because after that the linky will be closed. You could
still send your update post after that via comment, but will not be eligible to
the giveaway.

Monday, October 29, 2012

Seven years
after Pearl was born, now people saw Hester as a kind and charitable woman who
always helped the needs; that the letter ‘A’ on her bosom had a new meaning of
‘Able’. Hester herself has changed from a woman with passion and feeling to one
full of thoughts; and seeing Dimmesdale on his last vigil, Hester resolved to
rescue him by confronting Roger Chillingworth.

Side note:

A dark
question often rose into Hester’s mind with reference to womanhood: “Was
existence worth accepting, even to the happiest among them?” –a hint of
feminism? (p. 140)

Chapter XIV – Hester and the Physician

Talking to
Chillingworth, Hester realized how he had transformed from wise and intellectual
man to a fiend; and he refused to let Dimmesdale free. Chillingworth realized
his own soul corruption but accepted it as fate, even when Hester threatened
that she would reveal the secret.

Chapter XV – Hester and Pearl

Pearl—who
was let playing on the seashore—wore seaweeds on her bosom to resemble her
mother’s scarlet letter. Pearl kept asking her mother about the meaning of the
scarlet letter, and why the minister kept placing his hand over his heart; but
Hester did not want to explain the truth, so she lied to Pearl about the
scarlet letter.

Side notes:

At first
Hester wanted to tell the truth about the scarlet letter meaning to Pearl to be
able to share her burden, however at last she kept it to herself, why?

By lying
about the scarlet letter…. “a guardian spirit,
who now forsook her, as recognizing that, in spite of his strict watch over her
heart, some new evil had crept into it, or some old one had never been
expelled.” (p. 154)

Chapter XVI – A Forest Walk

Hester and
Pearl had a walk in the forest to intercept Dimmesdale, to warn him about the
danger of Chillingsworth’s company for his soul. Pearl asked her mother about the
Black Man, whether he had anything to do with the scarlet letter on her bosom and
with the minister’s habit to place his hand on his heart.

My thoughts:

Pearl: “And, Mother, he has his hand over his heart!
Is it because, when the minister wrote his name in the book (Black Man’s book),
the Black Man set his mark in that place? But why does he not wear it outside
his bosom, as thou dost, Mother?” Well, that’s a good observation, child!
You should be proud of your mother, who had the courage to admit her wrong
doing, and not hiding under a hypocrite mask. (p. 159)

Side note:

What about
the scene of Pearl catching the sunshine (and eventually could catch it)? Did
it point to Pearl’s innocent vs Hester’s sin? (“Mother, the sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hide itself,
because it is afraid of something on your bosom.”) p. 156

Friday, October 26, 2012

Roger
Chillingworth befriended with young minister Dimmesdale who got paler and
weaker day after day; and finally lived together with him in an apartment to
investigate the illness, but his real purpose was to dig his deepest secret—according to
Chillingworth’s suspicion. Meanwhile, people saw Chillingworth had transformed
from a kind hearted physician to an evil leech to Dimmesdale; they wondered
whether the clergyman was being haunted by Satan’s emissary in disguise of
Chillingworth.

Roger
Chillingworth concluded that Dimmesdale’s ill was not bodily but spiritually,
and offered to examine his soul, which made Dimmesdale angry; however their
friendship had remained unbroken. Few days later when Dimmesdale was asleep,
Chillingworth put aside the clergyman’s vest, then went away in an evil ecstasy
as if the Satan has won a soul.

My thoughts:

What was
that that he might have found in the clergyman’s bosom that he always kept
closed?

Chapter XI – The Interior of A Heart

Chillingworth's mind playing games resulted on the clergyman’s soul suffering from his guilt;
he wanted to confess to his people but scared to do it, while the people
thought the topic of sin in his sermons were heavenly. Dimmesdale began to feel
scared at Chillingworth but did not know why, and was having delusion about Pearl
pointing her finger to his heart; then one night he had an idea of how to end
his anguish, and left home at once.

My thoughts:

We tend to
judge a person from his outside appearance, for example, we always assuming
that clergymen are more holy than us, just because of their robes. Dimmesdale
and Hester Pryne shared the same sin, but people condemned Hester because she
wore the scarlet letter on her bossom, while Dimmesdale hid behind his ‘holy’
robe. Priests are God’s representative on earth, their task is to lead us to
God, but it doesn’t mean they are better than us; they are—just like us—not immune
to sin.

Chapter XII – The Minister’s Vigil

Dimmesdale went
straight to the scaffold where Hester had stood in shame years before, to die
on it; Hester and Pearl who had passed by, joined him, when suddenly the light
of meteor shone and illuminated them on the eyes of Chillingforth, who finally
took Dimmesdale home. Meanwhile, a great red letter ‘A’ appeared in the sky—a projection
of the meteor—that Dimmesdale took as a signal of his guilt, while people took
it as ‘Angel’ which pointed to a dead Governor at the same night.

My thoughts:

People used
to believe things as how they want to believe. A glare of red line that resembles
a letter ‘A’ could be seen as different things, depends on each point of view.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

This time I will not pick the main character from this
Robert Louis Stevenson’s gothic story. Dr. Jekyll’s (or Mr. Hyde’s)
personalities had been explained quite clearly in the story itself, left almost
nothing to analyze. Instead, I will pick Mr. Utterson—the lawyer, one of Dr.
Jekyll’s trusted friends. Mr. Utterson’s personalities were more intriguing,
for me, than Dr. Jekyll’s; the first passage of the story was about him.

Mr. Utterson was pictured as a “cold, scanty and embarrassed
in discourse, backward in sentiment, and dreary; yet he is somehow loveable”.
See a bit of contradiction here? Other than that, Mr. Utterson was austere with
him self, strict to a humble and simple life style; yet he had an approved
tolerance for others in their misdeeds. These, I guess, were human’s typical
dual side in their personality, the kind and the evil, the good and the bad. As
we realize our bad side, we try hard to suppress it by pushing on healthy
habits. That was a good practice, but sometimes…under certain circumstances
(good taste wine in the case of Mr. Utterson), we loosen our strict discipline
and let us wonder a bit on our wild side.

Mr. Utterson & Mr. Hyde

It’s interesting what Mr. Utterson has said about himself,
“I incline to Cain’s heresy… I let my brother go to the devil in his own way.”
As if Stevenson put the opening situation for the strange case of Dr. Jekyll
and Mr. Hyde here. It indeed one of human’s weaknesses (from the beginning with
Adam & Eve), to see our limits in the battle between good and bad. We know
that if we nurture our bad side, the bad side will take over our life control.
The question is, to which point we could let our selves until we cross that
line of our bad side? We like to play on
this, just like what Mr. Utterson did, although he perhaps didn’t play on
himself but on others (by ‘letting his brother go to the devil in his own way).

An interesting character of Mr. Utterson, and fortunately,
he never got too far from the limit, until the end of the story.

That is my Character Thursday of this week, an analysis of
book character of my choice, who is yours?... Just put your post URL in the
linky below. Do you like to join us in discussing characters from books you
read? See the details of Character Thursday first.

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Out of the
prison, Hester lived in a small cottage, and for living she did a fine
embroidery needle work—which decorated the Puritan’s fashion, including the
Governor's—while on the other hand she did charity by making coarse clothes for
the poor. On the contrary of her fine work, Hester felt lonely as the
society—even the poor and neighborhood children—secluded her because of her
scarlet letter.

My thoughts

It’s absurd
that people who regarded Hester Prynne as a sinful woman, wore her embroidery
works with all pride. “Vanity, it may be,
chose to mortify itself by putting on, for ceremonials of pomp and state, the
garments that had been wrought by her sinful hands.” (p.70)

Side note

Hester had a
sense that there are hidden sins in other hearts, that ‘the outward guise of purity was but a lie, and that, if truth were
everywhere to be shown, a scarlet letter would blaze forth on many a bosom
besides Hester Prynne’s’. (p.73)

Chapter VI – Pearl

Born from sinful
passions, Pearl turned out to be a beautiful and radiant little child—especially
with elegant dresses Hester made for her (it’s been years after Hester’s
release from prison). However, there is a shadowy evil reflection from her face
and manner that often terrifying Hester, and made the Puritans believed Pearl
to be a demon offspring.

My thoughts:

Although she
was only a little child, Pearl could seem to understand that she and her mother
were to be secluded from society. She never complained about her loneliness,
for never being allowed to play with children her age. She could create her own
amusement, but unfortunately those amusements were Pearl’s way to express her
anger from being treated unfair. Is this what Puritan believed the best result
of punishing a sinner? Creating a new ‘demon’?

Side notes

The two
sides of Pearl’s soul; at times she was an angelic sweet creature, but at
another time she was like a demon; and the transformation was so quick!

Chapter VII – The Governor’s Hall

Hester went
together with Pearl to Governor Bellingham’s mansion as people were speaking of
separating Pearl from her mother because she was believed to be demon origin. While
waiting at the mansion hall, Hester saw Pearl’s devilish expression reflected
from the Governor’s shining armor, as well as her exaggerated scarlet letter.

My thoughts:

Pearl became
sensitive and protective (for her and her mother) towards any insults from the
outside; she fought children who tried to insult them; so now it’s not Hester
protecting Pearl, but Pearl protecting her mother (and herself). (p. 86)

Side notes:

The rich and
luxuriant of Governor’s mansion, and his pride of his ancestor’s history were
described in detail, what was it reflecting? (p. 88)

Pearl was so
excited when she saw rosebushes in Governor’s garden outside the window. Was it
related somehow with the rosebushes in the prison door? (p. 90)

Chapter VIII – The Elf-Child and the
Minister

The Governor,
who came into the hall with Rev. Wilson, young minister Arthur Dimmesdale, and
Robert Chillingworth, wanted to take away Pearl from Hester; but being pleaded by
Hester, Rev Dimmisdale defended her by saying that uniting the child and the
mother would keep the mother’s soul from Satan’s grab; the defense succeeded,
and Pearl showed her appreciation by tenderly pressed Rev. Dimmisdale’s hand to
her cheek. Before leaving the mansion, Hester was invited to join a witches
gathering by Governor’s sister, which she rejected (but would have accepted had
she failed to keep Pearl).

My thoughts:

Robert
Chillingworth’s comment towards Dimmisdale’s defense: “You speak, my friend, with a strange earnestness” and Pearl’s
instinctive affection towards the young minister…. Were they signals of who
might have been Pearl’s real father?...

Hester Prynne—holding her baby—was brought out of the prison with a
scarlet letter ‘A’ embroidered on her breast, to be paraded to the market place
where she was exhibited to public shame for her sin: adultery; but she
confronted the condemning eyes of spectators with dignity and elegance. Meanwhile,
a series of memories about her past crossed her mind; from her childhood, about
a man with slightly deformed feature and a bright future she might have had.

Side note:

The women hated Hester more than the men, jealousy? (p. 44-46)

Chapter III – The Recognition

From the crowd Hester recognized a man with slightly deformed figure, and
became alarmed; the strange man recognized her too before he learned the
complete version of Hester’s story: wife of an intelligent English man who sent
her away two years ago, then committed an adultery until giving birth to a
baby. The clergymen (Rev. Wilson and young Rev. Dimmesdale) persuaded Hester to
confess who her lover was, but she refused to speak up.

My thoughts:

The young clergyman, in spite
of his task to make Hester talk, seemed to admire her brave for holding the
truth: “She will not speak…wondrous
strength and generosity of a woman’s heart! She will not speak!”

Side note:

It was whispered: ‘The scarlet letter threw a lurid gleam along the
dark passageway of the prison’.

Chapter IV – The Interview

Hester and the baby need physician, and the man who recognized her in
the market place came for the call; made draught for both mother and baby.
Roger Chillingworth—the name he called himself—did not want to avenge, he
admitted his folly by marrying a much younger girl who did not love him, then
made Hester swore to keep his identity as her husband, and promised her that he
would somehow find the mysterious lover she kept the secret.

Side note:

Roger Chillingworth last words: ‘not thy soul’…did it mean that he
would take avenge to Hester’s lover?

Monday, October 22, 2012

It’s been
perhaps two weeks since I have finished the fourth part of Gone With The Wind,
however I have felt too annoyed to write my thoughts then. So, now, while my mind
has been calming a bit after taking two other beautiful books, I will jot
down my brief thoughts about events taking place throughout Part 4.

Reconstruction
era followed the Civil War. Under the new government and new laws, the
Southerner suffered just more. For Tara, it came as a much higher taxes. Jonas
Wilkerson, the ex overseer at Tara came one day to collect the taxes, and
threatened Scarlett to buy Tara if she could not get the money to pay it.
Enraged, Scarlett made a vow that she would never—never have to release Tara
and got hungry again. After thinking hard—and as usual put aside any consciences—Scarlett
decided that her only chance to save Tara was marrying Rhett Butler—the only
man who possessed money—or at least became his mistress. So went Miss Tara once
again to Atlanta, only to find that Rhett was in prison after being accused of
killing a black man.

One of the “best”
moments in this part, for me, was the scene of Scarlett used her charm to
seduce Rhett. Almost got trapped in Scarlett’s trick, Rhett finally found her
true purpose, and ungallantly refused her proposition. Ha! This could be a good
lesson for Scarlett. But…did she learn from it? Of course not! :) Unsuccessful
with Rhett, Scarlett—who possesses a good sense towards money—found the smell
of cash in Frank Kennedy’s new store. Despite the fact that Frank fell in love
with Suellen—Scarlett’s sister—and have been engaged to her, Scarlett unashamedly
seduced Frank although she has never attracted to him at all (the same case as
she first married Charlie). Scarlett lied to Frank that Suellen has engaged to
other man because she could not wait for Frank any longer, and finally, in his
heartbreak, Frank agreed to marry Scarlett. And finally, Scarlett could get
cash to save Tara.

From a
plantation owner, Scarlett has transformed into a business woman. She
manipulate Frank to build the iron business, something Frank had been dream on
for quite a long time, but she took it over from Frank, and run the business by
herself. And she ran it in a harsh and ruthless way, ignoring ethics and
conscience. Atlanta at that time was not a safe place for white people,
especially for women who travelled alone. This was the time when the Northerners
freed black slaves and planted the idea that they have the right to do whatever
they liked to white peoples, including raping white women. These situations persuaded
white men to join in the Ku Klux Klan, to take avenge and to protect their
women.

Between
these times Gerald died, and Scarlett returned to Tara in her pregnant
condition. Everyone imposed the guilt on Suellen, who they believed triggered
Gerald’s heart attack. Everyone but Will Benteen, who finally decided to marry
Suellen! Not that he loved her, he loved Tara more than anything else, and
marrying Suellen gave him the right to live and manage Tara—which he has been
proven to be very skilful during Scarlett’s absence. If I must choose one favorite
man protagonist from this book, Will would be my pick. Not only he’s smart and
kind hearted, Will was the only one who would make Scarlett ashamed of what she
had done to Suellen. Will did not scolded her or mocked her in Rhett’s style,
he did not pointed at her in his accusation, he just reminded her that ‘she
knew how she had cruelly hurt Suellen and manipulated Frank’s true love.

While at
Tara, Scarlett persuaded Ashley to come with her to Atlanta, to manage one of
her lumber business. It was Scarlett’s way to keep being closed to Ashley.
Here, once again, Mitchell emphasized Ashley’s incapability to adapt to the
changing world. Ashley was the old times’ product, and it would be difficult
for him to find his place in this new world, one thing that Ashley knew very
well. Frankly—despite of his incapability, I admire Ashley for his frankness to
recognize his own weakness. I think Ashley was Ashley, it’s not his fault that
he had grown up in the old times. What he needed was to accept his weakness and
what life has offered him. He should be thankful (and I believe he did) to
Melly, because without her, he won’t be able to survive. Ashley was meant to be
with Melly, they made a perfect couple in this story. Sometimes (or often) love
is not the most essential element in a marriage, understanding and accepting
each other are. Ashley and Scarlett loved each other, but just imagine what
would happen when they marry each other. A catastrophe!...

So, Scarlett
returned to Atlanta together with the Wilkes—after Melly convinced Ashley to
move on. Unconcerned of all the danger—as Scarlett only focused her little mind
to make money and money—she kept travelling alone to run the business, in spite
of Frank’s and the others’ pledge for Scarlett to reduce her frequent outings.
Then one day when Scarlett travelled alone, some black slaves attacked her and almost
raped her, if one of Tara’s ex slave did not come to help her. Another good
thing for her, something to open her eyes to the real world. You were not the
only person worthy to live in this world, o Miss O’Hara! Grow up!!

Scarlett’s
incident triggered a reaction from the guys in Ku Klux Klan to do some “action”.
This was a blow for Scarlett, and made another huge change in her entire life.
Rhett’s and Melly’s co-action in the rescue were superb. And to end the
turbulence of Scarlett’s life, Rhett Butler came to propose her to marry him.

Part four is
the longest and the most interesting of Gone With The Wind. Here Scarlett’s
life has changed completely and abruptly. I could feel a little pity for her,
things must have been tough for her, but still, I could not feel sorry for her.
She was much more annoying here, knowing that she should have been more mature
and learned a lot of lessons now, but she seems never learned at all. =__=

As you might
have been familiar with the overall story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, I won’t
bother to write about the story at all. I’m just curious about how Stevenson opened
this story. He wrote quite thoroughly about Mr. Utterson and his relative—with whom
he used to spend Sundays by walking around the city. Both of them seemed did
not enjoy one another’s company, but they kept enjoying their excursions anyway.
I kept asking myself, what Stevenson wanted to show us; that people tend to
create certain habits—that they think as good habits—to control our wilder
sides?

Stevenson
also wrote about two different sides of Mr. Utterson’s personalities. He was a
cold, shy, and boring lawyer who kept himself from classy drinks and amusements.
Here I assume Mr. Utterson was a man who tried hard to live a straight and
humble life. But on certain circumstances—in casual parties under the
overflowing of his favorite wine, for instance—he would permit himself to let
his gaiety spring among his friends. On these occasions he could tolerate wild
sides of people, envied them for having fun so freely, and sometimes persuade
them to nurture their wildness.

I think Stevenson
wanted to emphasize the two sides of kind and evil, good and bad in human’s
souls; that we are all (like Mr. Utterson) have it in our soul—not only in Dr.
Jekyll’s case. We all have a slight of ‘Mr. Hyde’ in our souls; what made us
different are our choices. Dr. Jekyll—in his arrogance—chose to nurture the evil
in his soul, because he experienced the freedom in the wildness of Mr. Hyde’s
world. At one point Dr. Jekyll could stop his experiment and perhaps he could
live the rest of his life in peace, but—just like Adam and Eve—he could not
resist the temptation to be ‘God’. He chose to continue the terrible experiment
until he could not control it anymore.

In the end,
we must always realize that we have both kind and evil in us. And it’s up to us
to choose which side we will let dominate ourselves, by nurturing it. Once we
chose the wrong one, that could be the end of our lives, just like Dr. Jekyll.

What a
wonderful story about good and evil, the everlasting search in human’s lives.
But apart from that, I also loved the Victorian gothic atmosphere throughout
the story with which Stevenson had enveloped it. It was dark but beautiful.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Robinson Crusoe was probably one of book characters with
unique personalities to be analyzed here. It’s easy too, because from his
journal, we can follow his life from the very beginning. Being born in a
middle-class tradesman family, Crusoe has taught about trading business, a
career that Crusoe’s father believed to be the best and safest career to have
in the world. However—and this is the first sign of Crusoe’s
stubbornness—Crusoe did not have any slightest interest towards business (any
kind of it). I imagine Crusoe as a man who adored freedom; it’s not safety that
he sought, but the charm of uncertainty, the wider possibilities that was not
limited by rules and orders. And where could he find it if not in the sea? I
think Crusoe has been born with adventurer soul in his heart; and nothing
could prevent him to pursue his dream.

Throughout this book Crusoe often marked his stupidity
because he did not follow his father’s advice, and runaway from home to become
a sailor. However, I think it was not stupidity, and I never blamed him
throughout this story, because what he has endured was merely a maturing
process. If he had chosen to be a businessman, like his father’s suggestion, he
would probably never have had such development in his entire life. And what is
the most important development a man could reach if not finding the core of his
life—which is God?

Crusoe's stubbornness was clearly pictured through his
repentance. Being survived from several accidents in such ways that you could
not have said that they were just incidents—still did not make him think of God
at all. So, if Crusoe must fell in many dangerous conditions, it was not caused
by stupidity, but his stubbornness. Even when he finally came to a supernatural
understanding that God was behind those all occasions, it didn’t stay for too
long before he forgot about it again. Then all the process was repeated again,
he must fall into a tragedy, saved from it, realized that God was in it, then
forgot about it as soon as everything was calm and settled again.

From his twenty eight years of living on ‘his’ uninhibited
island, I see a strong will and determination in Crusoe. He never fell to
desperation when he must make great efforts to produce simple things that he
needed. Not even when he failed at his first trials (like when he made the
canoe), he would somehow find the spirit to do it again and again until he got
what he wanted. Here I think Crusoe was fortunate that he has his stubbornness
in him!

Don't you think Brosnan is too handsome for Crusoe? :)

Making decisions, though, was not one of his best qualities.
I can see from several occasions that he often felt uncertain to do something.
The clearest prove of this was when he must decide to attack against the
villain who did cannibalism on the island’s beach. But maybe we can spare him
on that one, because it was actually the battle between his conscience and his
survival instinct (it’s a good thing if one still consult his conscience before
committing his deeds, right?). Anyway, I can still see his uncertainty in
making decisions in several other occasions.

That is my Character Thursday of this week, an analysis of
book character of my choice, who is yours?... Just put your post URL in the
linky below. Do you like to join us in discussing characters from books you
read? See the details of Character Thursday first.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

“What? Another project? Like a five year The Classics Club project doesn’t enough!”, I can hear you were saying…. :).
However… *self defending* this one would just add the fun of munching those classics
books I have listed in the CCP anyway! :) The Well Educated Mind is a guide to read
and understanding classics pieces in the right method, a book written by Susan
Wise Bauer.

Excerpt:

If you can understand a daily newspaper,
there's no reason you can't read and enjoy Shakespeare's Sonnets or Jane Eyre.
But no one should attempt to read the "Great Books" without a guide
and a plan. Susan Wise Bauer will show you how to allocate time to your reading
on a regular basis; how to master a difficult argument; how to make personal
and literary judgments about what you read; how to appreciate the resonant
links among texts within a genre what does Anna Karenina owe to Madame Bovary
and also between genres. Followed carefully, the advice in The Well-Educated
Mind will restore and expand the pleasure of the written word.

Interesting,
eh?

Actually, I
am inspired by Ruth @ An Experiment with The Well-Educated Mind. I’m
impressed on how she puts her review in neat and chronological posts, guided by
some questions she took from The Well Educated Mind, which directly caught my
interest. Then my craving for this book began, and last month I finally decided
to buy it.

While
waiting for the book to arrive, I have been creating a list of books I’d like
to read for my WEM Self Project (there are 150 books from novel, poems, to
plays). I have picked 31 books from it, these books are either has been
included in my existing CCP list, or I just added because of WEM :) This time I
won’t set any deadline to finish them, it’ll just flow with my mood and my
interest; no targets, no pressures. I just want to read and savour them.

These are
the 31 books I have picked (for now—it could grow wider)—this list will be
posted in a dedicated page, you’ll find it on my main menu :

Don Quixote
– Miguel de Cervantes

The
Pilgrim’s Progress – John Bunyan

Gulliver’s
Travels – Jonathan Swift

Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens (re-read)

Jane Eyre –
Charlotte Bronte

The Scarlet
Letter – Nathaniel Hawthorne

Moby Dick –
Herman Melville

Crime and
Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky

The Return of the Native – Thomas Hardy

The Portrait
of A Lady – Henry James

Heart of
Darkness – Joseph Conrad

The House of
Mirth – Edith Wharton

The Great
Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald (re-read)

Mrs.
Dalloway – Virginia Woolf

The Trial –
Franz Kafka

The Stranger
– Albert Camus

1984 –
George Orwell

Invisible
Man – Ralph Ellison

Song of
Solomon – Toni Morrison

Possession –
A.S. Byatt

The Life of
Saint Teresa of Avila – St. Teresa of Avila

Walden –
Henry David Thoreau

City of God
– St. Augustine

The Prince –
Niccolo Machiavelli

All The
President’s Men - Carl Bernstein, Bob Woodward

Richard III
– William Shakespeare

A Midsummer
Night’s Dream - William Shakespeare

Hamlet -
William Shakespeare

The Cherry
Orchard – Anton Chekhov

Saint Joan – George Bernard Shaw

Dante’s
Inferno – Dante Alighieri

Although WEM
advised us to read the list in order, I opt to pick the titles randomly, based
on the availability of the books in my TBR pile :) or ebook list, and whether it’ll
match my reading schedule (along with any challenges, read-alongs and events).

It means
that starting next month I would probably post more often on each book which I’d
pick for the project. I hope you won’t get bored to read a glimpse of the title
each time you’re looking at your blogroll or google reader! ;) And because I
would dug into these books thoroughly, I could not guarantee that my posts
would be spoiler-free, and I won’t put a *spoiler-alert* sign each
time I jot down my thoughts; just want to let you know beforehand.

My copy has
just arrived, and the first book I’ll pick for the project is…. The Scarlet
Letter.

Monday, October 15, 2012

Jot down
some notes about the chapter you've just read or one that struck you the most.
It can be as simple as a few words you learned, some quotes, a summary, or your
thoughts and impressions.

This time
I’ll pick a powerful novel by Toni Morrison: Beloved. This is a dark chronicle
about slavery, and the particular passage I choose is from Chapter 15 (p. 140 –
141). Baby Suggs was a black old woman slave who has been freed by her son. This
passage reflected how she felt on the day of her freedom, after having been a
slave for sixty years!

“The sadness was at her center, the desolated
center where the self that was no self made its home. Sad as it was that
she did not know where her children were buried or what they looked like if
alive, fact was she knew more about them than she knew about herself, having
never had the map to discover what she was alike."

"Could she sing? (was it nice to hear when
she did?) Was she pretty? Was she a good friend? Could she have been a loving
mother? A faithful wife? Have I got a sister and does she favor me? If my
mother knew me, would she like me?” ~ p.140

Hope by George Frederic Watts, an oil on canvas, 1885

“She didn’t know what she looked like and was
not curious. But suddenly she saw her hands and thought with a clarity as
simple as it was dazzling, “These hands belong to me. These my hands.” Next she
felt a knocking in her chest and discovered something else new: her own heartbeat.
Had it been there all along? She felt like a fool and began to laugh out loud.”
~ p.141

I was kind of
struck by this passage. It will never have occurred to me that when ones were
born as slaves, they could never possess anything in their life. Everything
belonged to their masters, and everything they could get, they got from the
masters, even their names. The masters used to split families, and sold
children to separate buyers to cut any relationship of the slaves. They never
knew who they were in this world, they just did not have the root and probably
have never existed, if nobody bought them freedom. They would never know many
things about their qualities, and…well…there were so many things they would
never experienced, although they had never done anything wrong.

It’s really
a tragedy when innocent people were dehumanized by others; when they did not
permitted to have even themselves as a human. Reading about how Baby Suggs was surprised to realize that her hands now belonged to her, that her heart was
pounding to give herself a life was...well, that was a powerful image, really!

And I just
realized something, which one is better for them: living their whole lives as
slaves, or like Baby Suggs, could experience freedom at last? But after they
have been enslaved for all their lives, could they manage to survive in the
world alone (if they had been separated from the families)? That would be awful…
:(